Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Author Interview with Teri Harmon about "Black Moon"

Teri

Title of the Book: Black Moon

Author: Teri Harman

Publisher: Jolly Fish Press

Number of Pages: 416

Year Published: 2014

Reading Level: Young Adult-Adult

Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy

Synopsis: Simon Howard accidentally killed three people. Four months later, the nightmares won’t stop. Willa Fairfield, his girlfriend, his soul mate, wants nothing more than to help him move on. But guilt isn’t the only thing getting in Simon’s way.When unexplained earthquakes hit the small town of Twelve Acres, and dozens of people go missing, the Light witches discover their most feared enemy, Archard, is still alive. Employing the twisted, dynamic magic of a legendary witch known as Bartholomew the Dark, Archard plans to exact his revenge and take control of the Powers of the Earth on the night of the black moon, a rare lunar event infamous for Dark magic.As the Light Covenant fumbles to defend against Archard’s sadistic intentions, Simon’s magic grows inexplicably more powerful, even dangerous. Willa throws all her efforts into solving the mystery of Simon’s transformation, but when the events of the past storm into the present, the couple’s future changes forever.

First, we asked if she had actors in mind when she created her
characters because we had so much fun doing that for The Goldfinch!

But Teri said she created her characters from scratch. There are
characteristics from certain people in her life, but she didn’t want to base
them on actual people.If she had to
pick actors for her characters, Jonathan Rhys Meyers would be Archard and and
Jensen Ackles would be Simon.

Teri is a big Buffy the Vampire fan. Buffy is what
influenced her to create a strong female character. Willa was actually named
something different in the first draft, but it didn’t quite fit. Willa means
“protector” and she wanted Willa to possess that quality, so the name fit perfectly.

Her books move back and forth between times and so we
wondered what her favorite era to write the story was.

Teri loved writing from Bartholomew’s perspective He wasn’t
always going to be a main character, but he had this voice that captivated her
and she knew his story had more depth and that it needed to be told.

We asked her about her writing process. When she started
writing the series, she had young children. Her process revolved around a desk
that they purchased from Ikea. It was supposed to be painted, but it never
happened and they put inspiring quotes on it. Now she loves it so much she
won’t ever paint it. Eventually she created
a home office which is where she writes now.

We were curious if she had met people that practice some of
the Wicca spells and rituals. She has, and they describe their practices as
another version of a religion. They invoke power from the moon or from the spells
in a similar way to prayer. A black moon is very important and is almost its
own religion. A black moon is the second new moon in a month and it happens
every few years.

She added in the psychic mind and dreams to the powers of
the moon. If she could have one of the powers, it would be the gift of dreams.
She has very vivid dreams and many of them have been incorporated into the
books.

We asked her about the terminology “witches.” Some of us
thought that a male witch would be called a “Warlock.” But she told us that
according to Wicca, the term “witch” is used for both men and women.

One of the most difficult things about writing Black Moon
was the trying to avoid the second book slump. She wrote forty-five thousand
words (as a reference, most young adult books are about sixty-five thousand
words) and then decided it wasn’t the story she was supposed to write. She did
a very brave thing that no writer wants to do—she trashed the whole thing and
started over. Then she came up with the twisty plot that is now Black Moon! All
and all, Black Moon went through about ten different drafts. She said the toughest
part was to make the story feel fresh with the same characters as the first
book. She worked really hard to make the second book even better than the
first.

"A dark, realistic and intriguing story that evades the second-book slump.

Unusual and absorbing."

What’s next for Teri?? She has written a stand-along book called
The Painted Life. It’s about a girl who is trapped in a painting and it comes
out next June! We are so excited to see what this book is all about!

Black Moon was a perfect Halloween/Fall book chock-full of twists
and turns. We had a great time with Teri at our retreat. She has already
finished the last book in her series and it’s in the final editing stages. We
can’t wait for it to come out!